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The author of 15 comedies and of as many musical plays,
Frederick Lonsdale was the son of a tobacconist on the Isle of
Jersey. He began his career with a series of librettos for musical
comedies, the most famous of which were The Maid of the
Mountains (1917); and Monsieur Beaucaire (1919) which
was based on Booth Tarkington’s novel with music by André Messager.
In 1923, Evelyn Laye played the title-role in his Madame
Pompadour, a musical written in collaboration with Harry
Graham and set to music by Leo Fall.

After 1923, Frederick Lonsdale turned mainly to social comedies
dealing with the problems of marriage in high society. His works
have often been compared with those of Somerset Maugham. In f…

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2788Frederick Lonsdale1Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.